Solid ink or phase change ink printers conventionally receive ink in various solid forms, such as pellets or ink sticks. The solid ink pellets or ink sticks are typically inserted through an insertion opening of an ink loader for the printer, and the solid ink is pushed or slid along a feed channel by a feed mechanism and/or gravity toward a melting device. The melting device heats the solid ink impinging on the device until it melts. The liquid ink is collected and delivered to a printhead for jetting onto a recording medium.
A common goal of all printers is an increase in the number of documents generated by the printer per unit of time. As the throughput of solid ink printers increase, the demand for a continuous supply of solid ink to the melting device also increases. The increased demand for solid ink has led to the development of energized drive trains for the feed mechanisms that deliver solid ink units to a melting device. For example, a lead screw, an endless belt, and other drive mechanisms may be located in a feed channel and coupled to a motor through a drive train. Selectively energizing the motor causes the drive mechanism to move and carry a solid ink unit resting on the drive towards the melting assembly. The motorized carrier more positively urges the solid ink towards the melting unit without the need for a more typical spring-loaded ink stick pushing block that imparts an urging force to the ink sticks that also has to overcome by the user to close the ink access cover after loading. Developing motorized delivery systems that efficiently deliver solid ink sticks is a desirable user interface improvement, particularly when more frequent access is required, as with high volume printing.